


To One Thing Constant

by Some_Impossible_Fairytale



Series: To One Thing Constant [1]
Category: Beauty and the Beast (1991), Beauty and the Beast (2017), Disney - Fandom
Genre: Adam can't flirt to save his life, Alternate Universe - College/University, Clueless Belle, Everyone's in on it except Belle, F/M, I Don't Even Know, Lumiere must be kept away from Adam and Belle's love life, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mild Language, Pining! Adam, References to Shakespeare
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-28
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-10-25 01:35:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10754004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Some_Impossible_Fairytale/pseuds/Some_Impossible_Fairytale
Summary: Beauty and the Beast College AUOtherwise known as the time Adam and Belle caught feelings and everybody else tried to deal with all the Shakespeare.Inspired the prompt 'Imagine your one half of your OTP reciting Romeo and Juliet under the other's window'





	1. Chapter 1

“Surely you’re not intending to put the Adventure novels next to Geography and Travel?”

That does it.

Belle slammed the books she’d been carrying down onto the Library’s reading tables a tad louder than intended but if it has the desired effect she can’t find it in herself to regret it. Stalking across the floor, ignoring Mrs. Potts softly calling her name, Belle comes to a halt in front of her co-worker. Placing her hands on her hips, Belle glares at Adam who meets her murderous gaze with a coolly raised eyebrow over the rim of his Starbucks cup. When Belle had heard that the motherly Mrs. Potts was looking for someone to help re-organise the Campus Library she’d jumped at the chance to turn her favourite hobby into paid employment. What she hadn’t been counting on was the fact that would mean sharing a job with Adam Vendome, another student on her English Literature course and the bane of her existence.

Exceptionally attractive, rich and intelligent (as well as widely rumoured to be distantly related to the Kings of France) Adam is also exceptionally rude and obnoxious.

Whenever and whatever they debate in class Adam’s always needling her to justify her arguments and never seems to be satisfied with her answers, always asking for greater reasoning. He’d groaned loudly when she’d praised _Romeo and Juliet_ during the class reading and the argument had continued all the way from the classroom to the Library to begin their shifts.

_“It’s my favourite!”_

_“Ugh. Why is **that** not a surprise?” _

_“Excuse me?!”_

_“Well, all that pining and heartache,” he’d shuddered, face screwing up in disgust which Belle would’ve thought under any other circumstances was rather cute if he hadn’t been dragging her favourite play through the mud. “There’s so many other things to read”_

_“Like what?” she’d shot back, waiting to hear what author or work he thought could rival the Bard._

_“I’m sure there’s something in here you could start with” he’d replied, holding the library door open for her and jerking his head in the direction of the books that awaited them. Belle had been brought up short, thrown by his cleverly broad answer and thoughtless chivalry, even when he was picking on her. None of the boys back home in Villeneuve acted like that._

The fact that they had mutual friends in Lumiere and Plumette made things even more awkward because then she had to deal with the piercing gaze of his blue eyes in the pub after class or the café where Plumette works as well as the Library stacks. If the eyes really are the windows to the soul, then Belle doesn’t know what to make of Adam. He has everything he could ever want; money, books, a house of his own off campus but sometimes she’ll catch sight of him and she can’t help but think that he looks like a man in torment.

Furthermore, he refuses to come to an agreement with her on the re-arrangement of the Library, sometimes due to being in different seminar groups for Cogsworth’s French history class, they’re not always on shift at the same time. As a result, she’s come into the stacks more than once to find him tutting to himself, arms laden with books he’s decided work better elsewhere. They have what is now a long standing feud over the Romances which Adam keeps trying to install in the back of the stacks with the Reference section no-one visits except on a blue moon. His piss-poor excuse is that it makes sense alphabetically.

And he has the nerve to criticise her organisational skills.

Paired with crazy hours, extensive word counts, looming deadlines and a best friend with a very active sex life Belle’s not sure she can take much more of this. And now he’s, what supervising her on his time off?! This last offence was the one that broke the Camel’s back as the saying goes because _Belle_ isn’t the one who literally strolls into class five minutes late with Starbucks every day.

“Why not?” she demands, irritated at his fifth comment on her work ethic in as many minutes.

Adam looks genuinely surprised at the question, answering with his trademark tactlessness “Well, because they’re _fiction.”_

Belle takes a deep breath out through her nose, swallowing the urge to shout. She had never thought that someone as passionate about books as she was could annoy the living shit out of her but that was before she’d met Adam. She needs this job to help ease the struggle of university finances and as warm and wonderful as Mrs Potts is, she knows that the older woman would take none too kindly to a shouting match in the library.

A myriad of responses spring to mind but Belle dismisses them all. That she was perfectly aware of that thank you very much Captain Obvious, that she’d only been taking the books off the shelves and had been about to ask his opinion before he had questioned her judgement so condescendingly, that Adam’s technically not even on shift at the minute and surely he has better things to do than bother her. She had though that putting Adventure books next to those containing more detailed information about the real life locations the great events took place in seemed like a perfectly reasonable notion to her, but she’d been about to ask his opinion. Instead, Belle just let out a loud growl of frustration before turning on her heel and leaving the Library as if wolves were at her heels.

Adam stared wordlessly after her before turning to look at Mrs. Potts in disbelief. Mrs. Potts in her charming measured way, put down her teacup, shaking her head gently. “That didn’t go very well at all now did it?”

β & β

“Have you ever considered _mon amie,_ that perhaps you just suck at flirting?” Lumiere asks over beers that night back at the house they share which Adam’s trust fund bought back at the beginning of University.

Adam simply glowers in return. “We both know that would be a barefaced lie” he says, thinking back to the numerous faceless beauties he’s enjoyed over the years. It’s a wonder Lumiere has never abandoned him for all the shit he’s pulled over the years.  “Mention that to Belle and I will murder you. And buy Plumette a nice chateau in Nice to make up for it” he adds suddenly terrified of the prospect of Belle, a person whose name never seemed so fitting, will actually discover the shitty womanizing ways of his past.

“She’s the smartest girl in our year. She probably already knows” Lumiere said in a matter of fact voice.

“It’s hopeless” Adam voiced sadly, hands slipping despairingly over his face. “She’ll never want anything to do with me. You should have seen how she stormed out of the Library today. I was only teasing.”

“Okay then” Lumiere grinned, never down for long and smacked Adam’s arm good naturedly “You suck at teasing! To be honest I think that was a given if how she reacted to your thoughts on Romeo and Juliet are anything to go by. We’ll just have to try something else!”

“Like what? I want to do something for her, something to show her that I’m serious about this, about her”

“Something that shows effort, sparks her interest….wait, I know!”

β & β

“What are you _doing_?!” Belle shouts in the loudest whisper she can muster, completely appalled. Leaning over the rail Belle looks left and right down the street and despite the streetlights brightly illuminating the pavement, she can’t see anyone in sight.

 “I should have thought it fairly obvious” Adam replies in a normal voice, evidently not caring in the slightest whether anyone hears or not.

What Adam Vendome is doing is reciting the balcony scene from _Romeo and Juliet_ word perfect in front of the dorm Belle shares with Plumette. At 10 o’clock at night.

“Well, yes” Belle concedes awkwardly, hands fluttering along the balcony’s rail as she shrugs “But _why?”_ she asks as quietly as she can, trying to fight the blush that had been spreading over her cheeks. It’s not entirely her fault, Adam knows that _Romeo and Juliet_ is her favourite play and to make matters worse he’s just finished the line asking Juliet – or in this case her – to discard her ‘vestal livery’. The next thing you know it’ll be all round Campus that Adam Vendome and Belle de Barberac had sex. It’s all Plumette’s fault. She’d been the one to send Belle to investigate when they’d quite clearly heard the words “and Juliet is the sun”.

Adam pauses for a moment, clearly thinking. He looks particularly dashing in the summer moonlight; hair swept back in a low ponytail, dark wash jeans and his collarbones clearly visibly in the practically open white shirt he’s wearing. Not that good looks would save him from Belle holding this against him for the rest of the semester.

Down below Adam swallows and a surprisingly resolute expression comes over his face as he meets her gaze once more “The exchange of love’s faithful vow for mine”

Belle’s eyebrows shoot up. She wasn’t expecting that. And so sincerely. Does he? Does he like her? It’s not that she hasn’t thought about it, once or twice in the beginning before his behaviour made him detestable. The only other person she can think of whose similar (she would never do Adam the insult of a direct comparison - and that’s saying something) is Gaston back in her hometown.

“Are you drunk?”

“No!” Adam looks incredibly offended by the suggestion. “I just – I just thought it time to be direct” he shrugs, the tips of ears going bright red even in the low light. It’s at this point, the Range Rover’s passenger window rolls down to reveal none other than Lumiere, who sticks his  head out of the window and shouts just as baldly up at her “Honestly _ma cherie_ , do you really think I’d let this moron _drive_ all the way over here let alone profess himself to you if he was drunk? You wound me.”

“ _Lumiere_?!” Belle shrieks scandalised, hoping that it serves as both a reprimand and demand for explanation. But Lumiere, that little shit, merely winks at her and rolls his window back up.

Of course this was his idea. Really, she shouldn’t be surprised that he’s here watching either. He probably threatened Adam’s livelihood to get him over here in the first place. He’s always been trying to get Adam and Belle to be friendlier to each other and now she knows why. She might kill him and buy Plumette that new eyeshadow palette she’s been eying by way of apology.

 

So this isn’t some weird dare? Adam is 100% ‘professing himself’ of his own free will and probably no small amount of threatening.

 And he’s decided to tell her of his interest by conversing purely in Shakespeare? Well, two can play at that game “I have no joy of this contract tonight it is too rash, too ill advised, too sudden” Belle returns, overwhelmed at Adam’s change in attitude. From brash afternoon chidings to moonlit Shakespeare recitals – on location – no less, she be less surprised if someone had put a magic spell on him. If he had romantic intentions why didn’t he just ask her to join him for dinner like a normal person?

At her words, Adam looks automatically crestfallen “Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear, that tips with silver all these fruit tree tops” Belle can’t fault his acting really, he even gestures this way and that even though the two trees within eye-line beside the pavement have never seen so much as a berry in their lives. Maybe Lumiere’s right and Adam should have taken drama. She’s long agreed that he’s certainly dramatic enough. Although saying that, Lumiere, who actually takes Drama, isn’t one to talk.

“Do not swear at all” she insists, in the same low whisper, a direct contrast to Adam’s throaty growl. It’s actually rather entrancing. She’s never heard him speak like this, never heard Shakespeare quoted like this; in a man’s deep timbre rather than a boy’s lilting tone. Hearing Adam speak Romeo’s words gives Shakespeare’s tragedy a delicious maturity without taking away from the original passion of the two star-crossed youths.

_How silver sweet sounds lovers tongues by night, like softest music to attending ears._

_Fuck_ , Belle thinks, looking down at Adam, those blue eyes gleaming up at her with a depth of expression she’s never seen in anyone else, _this could be a problem._

“O wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?” That’s a fair question. She hasn’t said no, because she’s more than a little shell shocked by this revelation and she’s also trying to get him off the lawn before the security guards see them and have both their guts for garters.

But it brings her pause. If Belle quotes the passage faithfully by asking what satisfaction he can have then they’ll be right back to the exchange of love line. He knows it too she sees, from the way he’s grinning up at her. It lights up his face, like the sun breaking through the clouds. But it would also give him false hope if she repeated Juliet’s words about having already given him her love because right now she’s simply trying to process the fact that he finds her appealing.

“Absolutely. Toward school with heavy looks”

Adam laughs at that, rich and full, head tilted back to the sky. She’s surprised him. Good, that should even things out a bit. Fighting to keep the smile off her face, Belle nods a goodnight at him and retreats back in doors. She nearly trips over Plumette who was of course eavesdropping and the two of them watch as Adam gets into his Range Rover. Fighting the confusion she feels over Adam’s display Belle doesn’t know what to think. Adam had always seemed so untouchable, so high and mighty and now he’s come to her dorm and declared his intent in Shakespeare no less. Swallowed his pride even and recited a scene from Romeo and Juliet, not because it’s the most famous but because it’s her favourite. And then, he even knew the old custom she realises when he comes to the bend in the road and the driver’s window rolls down so that he can return Belle and Plumette’s waving as he and Lumiere drive away.

β&β

The next morning as Belle strolls into the Library she feels apprehensive. She doubts Adam’s sincerity and wonders why last night was the turning point in whatever this is. Mrs Potts smiles at her when she enters. It’s not even the gentle smile she’s accustomed to but a full beam. “Morning poppet. Adam’s already started without you. Don’t leave him waiting”

Trailing through the stacks, feeling unusually reluctant to start the day’s work, Belle wonders what kind of greeting awaits her. Whether he’ll dismiss it as a moment’s madness or admit to it freely. The sight that greets her eyes seems like a happy medium between the two. Adam smiles softly at her when she comes into view but says nothing, instead pushes a plate and Starbucks coffee cup at her across the desk where he’s checking the books for wear and mould.

The plate is laden with beignets, which when she questions it turns out to be from a place he’d found a week or so ago. She’d mentioned a fondness for the honeyed treat to Plumette had she not?

“But that was weeks ago” Belle retorts, flabbergasted.

“You know my weakness and I have yet to learn yours” she accuses, after she’s done licking her fingers, enjoying the way Adam’s eyes stain a darker shade of blue as he watches.

“I should have thought it obvious”

***

“What’s your favourite Shakespeare play then?”

Adam hummed again, eyebrows quirking from where he was rearranging the N’s “Who puts Niffenegger next to Narnia honestly?”

“Oh have you read _The Time Traveller’s Wife_?”

“No but I have read the _Chronicles of Narnia_. Bloody dreadful”

“It’s a classic!”

“And C.S. Lewis denied Susan entrance to heaven because enjoyed pleasures of adulthood? Because she liked frivolity and lipstick, she’s the sole survivor?!”

“C.S. Lewis addressed the issue!” Belle retorted “It wasn’t because she couldn’t get into Aslan’s Country! It was because her journey was longer and more mature themed than Lewis was aiming for with the Chronicles! Look at Peter, Edmund and Lucy, they were only able to get back two or three times after the original trip because they’d learned all they could in Narnia. Look at Cedric, he didn’t return until the Final Battle itself having lived a ripe old life on Earth.”

“All right. But really, what kind of setting is that?! Four children arrive in a foreign world, where they look nothing like the rest of the inhabitants and are immediately elevated to the position of revered and fabled Monarchs. It’s Imperialism! It’s Absolutism to boot! And what would you do in that situation, of course you’ll go along with it rather than getting murdered for being different like Jadis wanted to do.”

“You’d hate _The Blazing World_ then” Belle notes with a sort of exasperatedly fond smile

“I did hate it your absolutely right.” Adam nods seriously but he’s smiling back at her. It’s a genuine smile, one Belle hasn’t seen before either in the stacks or the classroom. It’s gone in a moment and its then Belle wonders whether she’s ever just missed seeing him smile before by looking away too quickly. “But we were discussing Shakespeare. It would have to be _Much Ado about Nothing_ ”

“Ah _One foot in the sea, one foot on the shore. To one thing constant, never!”_

“You have the entire play and you choose the line the incapability of men to bear commitment?” Adam asked turning away from the bookshelf he was reorganising to stare at her. He’d nearly turned the entire way round and Belle had to make a mad grab for the ladder he was balancing so precariously on to stop him falling. Belle smacked his leg “Be careful! I don’t want to have to nurse you back to health because of me!”

Adam smiled softly to himself at the thought of Belle wiping his brow with a cloth, tending to him. The fact that she would at all. It was Belle’s marvellous nature that drew him to her in the first place, the fearless way she defended her opinions, her love of books and her kindness even to those who would mock her. Or in his case wind her up mercilessly because he was shit at teasing. “Why that line?” he prodded, sliding down the ladder to land beside her. Without being several feet above her, Adam wasn’t looming over her but only a head and shoulders taller. With his head inclined to hers, a curious smile tugging shyly at his lips, finger rubbing over the cover of one of the books in the stack as he spoke, there wasn’t a trace of the imperious, cold bearing she’d come to associate with him. He was approachable, more human. It was an appealing sight.

“I love the language of it, not the use. I love the idea of travelling, just travelling, never being in the same place for long. Francois Rabelais said ‘I go to seek a Great Perhaps’ and that’s what I want. Apart from leaving Villeneuve to come here, I’ve never really been anywhere”

Unable to help himself Adam reached down to touch the hand resting on the ladder, a gentle acknowledgement of the wistfulness in her voice. Their hands have brushed before, passing books to each other or when Adam with his persistent gentlemanly upbringing had helped Belle down the ladder. This is different, a deliberate display of affection. “I’ll take you, anywhere you want” he offers, thinking of the princely fortune in his bank account that a university degree and a three bedroomed house hadn’t even put a dent in. He’d love for Belle to see the bell towers of Notre Dame that Quasimodo haunted, the intrigues of Anne of Austria in the Louvre as well as the touristy sites like the Champs Elysees. Lyra and Will’s bench in Oxford’s Botanical Gardens, hell even Juliet’s own balcony in Verona if that’s what she wants.

Belle’s eyebrows shoot up at his words and its then that Adam’s realised what he’d just said. They’ve only just taken their first steps towards being friends, rather than people forced by circumstance to spend time together and he’s already jumping the gun. Unfortunately he’s liked her, been in love with her if he’s honest with himself, for at least three months already.

“I mean” Adam thinks quickly “ – maybe you, Lumiere and Plumette, LeFou and Stanley would like to spend Spring Break in Paris? My family has a house there – barely used, my father certainly wouldn’t be there – so as long as we sorted out flights” which Adam fully intended to pay for “there’d be no worry about accommodation” He hopes it’ll also save his bacon so to speak. Last night he’d quoted Shakespeare on location under window and now he was offering to show her the world. So much for dialling down on the grandeur of his effort. Lumiere really was rubbing off on him.

This new plan, of them going as part of a group might be just as spur of the moment as the original offer but Adam hopes it’ll spare any awkwardness. Adam just hopes against hope really (given as Lumiere had said that Belle is the smartest person in their year) she doesn’t realise that apart from Adam and herself, all the other people named were couples.

Belle’s surprise melts into that joyful smile that Adam could write sonnets about. “I’d love that! It’s very kind of you. What did the others say?”

Belle asks this question carefully, ducking her head to look up at Adam properly, still very much aware of his hand on hers. He was actually very beautiful when he blushed like that. She liked seeing him shaken up. It was enticing as she’d thought before and she was pleased to see him smile again, because of her. Maybe Mrs. Potts was right and he really wasn’t as terrible as he’d first appeared.  And those offers! It wasn’t as if it was done to impress her she could tell, everybody knew he had the means to travel endlessly but the fact that he was offering to take her along, take their friends to Paris – a place she longed to see – was generosity itself.

“Um, we’ll have to ask them” Adam felt his blush worsen and it was only Belle’s enthusiasm for the notion that stopped him from scowling at his notorious impulsiveness. Belle nods and immediately whips out her phone, fingers dancing along the screen.

“There” After a second Adam feels his own phone buzz in his pocket. Tearing his eyes from Belle’s face, he digs it out and sees that Belle has set up a group text for the six of them, proposing his plan.

Bloody hell.

He hopes Father doesn’t suddenly develop the desire to visit Paris in a few weeks’ time.

“So why _Much Ado about Nothing?”_ Belle presses as if they haven’t just agreed to go on holiday together and Adam knows he’s gotten himself in over his head and there’s no turning back now.

“The hope it conveys. The fact that Bendick and Beatrice find each other, even though they’re well and truly on the shelf. And then, then you’ve got this stability of their relationship I suppose” he thinks of his own parents, the estrangement of his parents and the way he wasn’t allowed near his mother in the final weeks of her life “The fact that Benedick puts Beatrice before everyone, he sides with her and Hero immediately, even though he doesn’t witness the slight. He believes them and sides with them automatically. It’s incredibly progressive for the time in terms of relations with men and women.”

Belle grinned at him and pokes him in the rib “I _knew_ there was a romantic in there somewhere”

“My feelings on _Much Ado_ are hardly –“

“You also quoted the Balcony Scene under my window, so I don’t think you’re in a position to argue”

“Belle –“ Adam blushed again and had a sudden agonising thought that Belle might be laughing at him. But then he felt that little hand find his again and wonder of wonders she stood on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek. “Nobody’s ever done anything like that for me before. It was wonderful”

Well. There’s nothing else for it really. Adam reaches for her, caught up in the moment. Hearing Belle’s surprised shriek, Mrs. Potts jumps from her stool and races through the stacks towards the source of the sound. The sight that meets her eyes is of her young employees giggling against a bookshelf. Belle’s head is tossed back in breathless laughter as she attempts to bat away Adam, who is tickling her sides relentlessly.

 _Will wonders never cease,_ Mrs Potts thinks as she watches the two of them. _I knew they’d come together on their own._

β & β

It’s nearly a week later that they find themselves working in the Library together again due to Cogsworth’s assignment on Napoleon taking up nearly every waking moment. Adam’s the one late this time and Belle finds herself craning her neck out of the stacks every five minutes or so wondering where he could have gotten too.

“Oh Heavens!” Mrs Potts cry comes sounding from the desk “Child what the blazes have you gotten yourself into now. Come in and sit down –“

There’s a murmured reply that grows more alarmed when Mrs. Potts continues “Belle! Belle dear, fetch the first aid kit from my office. Lumiere go and put the kettle on, I think we could all use a cup of tea. **Sit down!** ” this last command is laced with a steely edge Belle’s never heard from the kindly Librarian, not even when Chip was scrambling freely on the tops of the bookshelves.

Dashing to fulfil the request, Belle finally emerges from the stacks to the front of the library to see Lumiere, Lefou, Stanley all drenched from the rain outside and Mrs. Potts gathered around “Adam!”

Adam sits stooped on a chair, clutching a cloth to the side of his face, just as wet as the other men. “What happened?” Belle demands, flying past the others to kneel beside his chair taking in his torn waistcoat, the way his free arm curls protectively at his side.

“Nothing, sweetheart, really, everyone’s making such a fuss. I’ll be fine after a bracing cup of tea I promise” he tries to smile at all of them and grimaces instead. Belle bites her lip at his pain and begins pushing up the sleeves of her blouse.

“Lumiere could you dash home and get him a fresh shirt? This one’s destroyed. A jumper too if he’s got any. Mrs. Potts, are you alright to make the tea while I get him sorted out? Lefou, Stanley, I think you’d better tell me what happened seeing as he won’t” her eyes flicker to Adam exasperatedly. They’d been making progress it seemed and now he was refusing to tell her things.

They’d been coming out of Cogsworth’s class when the group of men had set upon them. They’d been led by Gaston, the new star football player of the city’s resident team, who’s had his eyes on Belle since their high school days in Villeneuve. Belle hadn’t realised he’d been transferred but she’s not a sporty person and she hasn’t spoken to Papa this week so hasn’t had the latest news from home. According to LeFou, Gaston had seen Adam and Belle walking together and decided to take out the ‘competition’.

Belle scoffed and pressed Adam’s hand. “Gaston was never even in the running. He’s just lucky I never punched _him”_ Adam had had the advantage apparently but had let Gaston walk away unscathed.

“I realised it wasn’t the sort of thing you’d think well of, brawling in the streets.” Adam interrupts “It’s not the sort of thing I want to be known for. Besides there’s nothing to worry about, I’ve already called my father. Gaston won’t be bothering anyone anytime soon”

Belle didn’t doubt that. Adam’s father had connections everywhere. No doubt someone would get it into Gaston’s thick head what a mistake he’d made. As Belle sponges the blood from the side of Adam’s face, she squeezes his hand, interlacing their fingers to comfort him through the pain. He’d had the chance to stop Gaston and had retreated _because he’d been worried what she would think of him._

LeFou and Stanley take their leave shortly after Lumiere returns with Adam’s fresh clothing telling Belle to take care of Adam. Lumiere helps Adam out of his shirt and Belle forces herself to be composed at the sight of bare chest, the perfectly defined abs marred by a sizeable bruise.

Even when he’s had the living shit kicked out of him, Adam still manages to look like Apollo made flesh. _And he knows it too,_ Belle thinks infuriated that he’d get himself hurt defending her honour, _if the way the good looking tosser is smiling at me is anything to go by._

Catching her eye, he winks at her.

“Ow!”

“If you’d hold still it wouldn’t hurt as much” Belle replies with the serenity and innocence of a saint.

Later, when she’s helping him to the car in order for Lumiere to drive them home after Mrs. Potts had shouted down Adam’s assertions that he was still able to do his shift for the day Belle presses the second kiss to his cheek in as many weeks. “You didn’t have to do that. But thank you” she can only imagine what Gaston had said about her but Adam leaping to defend her like that… he keeps surprising her. He might not be Prince Charming but Belle’s never really wanted that anyway. She’d wanted a partner, someone to take on the world with.

“Thank you for tending to me. I know it’s an imposition” Belle’s about to protest that it was the least she could do, that he wasn’t a burden when she saw the twinkling in those piercing blue eyes of his.

“Ow!”

“Cherie, he’ll never recover if you keep smacking him!”

It’s only when the boys are gone and the commotion is over that Belle realises that Adam had called her sweetheart when trying to reassure her. She finds it’s not as alarming as she thought it would be.

β & β

“What are you reading?” Belle asked from the doorway of Adam’s spacious bedroom, her greeting dying on lips at the sight of Adam shoving a book under his bedcovers.

“ _Nothing”_ he retorts quickly, refusing to look at her, a schoolboy with his hand in the cookie jar. But Belle’s not put off, having learned by now that the Princely pride he so often displays is all bravado. Quickly stepping into the room properly, Belle strides across it to retrieve the book from him and learn its identity.

“ _The Time Traveller’s Wife!”_ she exclaims excitedly, pleased he’d taken her recommendation.

“You big softie” she teases, opening the book to the marked page and seeing how far he’d gotten. She scoffs gently when he says he was just seeing what she’d made a fuss over given that the book was over halfway read.

“Budge up” Adam obliges in the stunned sort of way he often has around her, shifting carefully, despite the fact that the doctor had recommended only two more days of taking it easy. He was glad of it, bored out of his mind – only softened by the others visits and the planning of the Paris trip which Adam has thrown himself into with gusto. As Belle takes up residence beside him on the king sized bed, he tries to put his arm round her and pull her closer but Belle ignores him. The new physical side of their friendship delighted Adam, who had always been quietly tactile. She would hold his hand or kiss his cheek without a second thought, so he knows she’s deliberately dodging.

“I’ll sit with you, if I can read aloud”

Adam nods and receives her into his arms gladly. Once she’d settled beside him, Adam casts a glance at the page and puts his finger on the paragraph he’d stopped at before she came in.

“Ready softie?”

 _That’s not going away any time soon_ Adam thinks regretfully, observing the cheeky glint on Belle’s beautiful face and resolving to another tickle torture once he’s given the all clear.

β & β

“Don’t tell me they haven’t even kissed yet?” Plumette complained from the kitchen table when Lumiere returned downstairs.

“I know darling, I know” Lumiere replied in sympathy “I only hope they come to their senses before the Paris trip, because how the two of them can bear to be around lovers in the City of Love without giving into their feelings is beyond me”

“They’re both as stubborn as each other that’s how” Plumette retorted, stirring her tea

“This calls for drastic action” he decides suddenly resolute, slamming his own teaspoon down onto the table with intent. Sat across from her boyfriend, Plumette mildly fears for his friends lives.

***

Lumiere has never favoured subtlety, feeling that life is too short to be encumbered by shyness. It’s why he and Plumette have been dating for as long as they have, why there is so much passion in their relationship. It’s also why, when Belle leaves that evening (its date night for Lumiere and Plumette) Lumiere decides to pounce.

Unfortunately he’d forgotten how Adam becomes like a wild animal in a corner whenever you ask him about feelings, especially his feelings for Belle.

“You must be bold, daring –“

“Things are just fine –“

“If you say things are fine as they are I will destroy all your waistcoats and tell Belle one of your favourite stories is _Lancelot and Guinevere”_

“You dare –“

“No mon amie, you dare that is the point!”

In the end, it isn’t Adam who has to bend first, unexpected to them all, even herself, Belle leads the charge. She’d been carrying a stack of Romances back to their shelving at the front of the Library (Adam might be under the weather but like hell does that equate a concession) when she saw him walk in. As she watched him greet Mrs. Potts and her son Chip, ruffling the younger boy’s hair and complimenting his skateboarding skills she was filled with a rush of affection. How had she not noticed this positivity, this abundance of kindness in his soul ever before?

Just at that moment, he’d looked towards the shelving where Belle was loitering and their eyes caught. He smiled and waved, like it was the most natural thing in the world and Belle thought, not for the first time, how wrong all the gossips were. How just like Villeneuve’s Funny Girl, there was so much more to the Beast.  

“Can you manage there Belle dear?” Mrs. Potts calls, breaking the moment. Immediately, before Belle can reply Adam seems to notice the stack of books that are only kept in Belle’s arms by the strength of her chin. Striding forward, Belle thinks he’s going to take them from her but instead he only reaches out towards her face to lightly, tucking a stray curl out of the way instead.

“There” seeing the confused moue of her mouth Adam grins “Welcome to the Age of Equality darling. You lot wanted the vote” It was a very Adam answer but instead of striding past he winks and takes all of the books from her easily. Well, that answered any lingering questions about his health.

She’s coming to realise he’s got a very warped sense of humour.

“Where did you want these?” he gestures with his nose. Belle nodded, a clever plan forming in her mind. Belle tells him to follow her, as she has a few more to collect, making full use of his extra height and longer arms. It’s then that she realises he’s wearing a simple white v-neck t-shirt under his open waistcoat, rather than the traditional shirt whose sleeves he’d roll up during a shift.

A very well fitting t-shirt.

Coughing, Belle continues towards the book cart, tossing a few more titles onto the veritable ton in Adam’s arms. It’s then that Adam notices the genre of the work he’s carrying and groans. “Bloody hell. I thought we’d sorted these”

“Well I’m resorting them” she replies airly, ignoring the way Adam rolls his eyes. It’s then that Belle decides she can’t take it anymore and tears down the tower in Adam’s arms to replace the books with herself. Cupping his jaw, Belle pulls him down to her level and presses their mouths together.

It’s a bit like kissing one of the statues that adorn the castles Belle’s read about. He doesn’t move and she’s about to pull back and apologise when suddenly she feels hands at her back, feels the way he surges up like a wave to meet her.

_Finally._

The moment is somewhat ruined by the sound of the Potts’ family cheering from the front desk but Adam and Belle are too wrapped up each in other to care.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam learns the importance of communication, or, Adam fucks up a lot by making assumptions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I die (reasons below in gif form of Student! Adam)

     

 

“Adam won’t have sex with me!” Belle cried two weeks later after her Wednesday class on the role of women in literature, bursting into the flat’s kitchen where Plumette was putting away groceries.

“And a good morning to you” LeFou retorted from where he was sitting at the small dining table the two girls used.

“LEFOU?!” Belle screeched, jumping a foot in the air at the sight of their male friend, lounging in one of the dining chairs with shopping bags round his feet, coffee cup in hand.

_Shit._

This drastically derails the conversation she’d resolved to have with her best friend on the walk home. It’s not that she dislikes LeFou or anything like that but she’d only meant to take Plumette into her confidence. Probably shouldn’t have blurted it out the minute she got in the door but it’s too late now. She knows from living with the other girl just how experienced she is, if the amount of times the candelabra outside Plumette’s room has fallen to the ground when Lumiere has pressed his girlfriend up against the door. Belle wishes she didn’t have that mental image but she does and so as a consequence Plumette is going to help her with Adam.

“Okay?” Plumette straightens from where she was putting away tinned tomatoes and walks slowly back to the dining table, pulling out a chair for herself, ready to listen. “Did he say that?” she asks hesitantly, evidently surprised by this turn of events.

“No!” Belle protests emphatically, trying to quell the frustration she feels at the lack of understanding of her boyfriend. “But every time we-“ she pauses, unable to help looking sideways at LeFou, who meets her gaze evenly and reminds her that they are all legal and he’s been dating Stan since first year. “Every time I think it’s going to progress to that stage he says it’s not the right time yet. Yet being the operative word. It’s not that he doesn’t want to. He’s said quite clearly that he wants to, is ready to. But he still wants to wait and I’m confused”

Plumette and LeFou share a knowing look. If there’s anything Belle hates it’s not understanding something.

“Paris” Plumette answers, taking pity on her flatmate. “He’s waiting till we go to Paris next week so that your first time together is extra romantic and memorable”

“ _Seriously?!”_

“I do believe there was mention of sightseeing your favourite Parisian literary sites followed by music, romantic candlelight and rose petals” Plumette replies, ticking off the list on her perfectly manicured fingers cool as a cucumber, sipping at her macchiato clearly enjoying this. _She and Lumiere are perfect for one another_ Belle thought, eyes narrowed and thoughts edging towards murder.

However Belle’s plans to recreate a scene either from an Agatha Christie novel or _How to Get Away with Murder_ (she couldn’t quite decide) were halted by the scene Plumette had described that Adam has planned for them in Paris. _That does sound pretty perfect._

It did not however preclude them from having sex **before** then making it any less perfect and Belle fully intended to inform Adam _the assuming, infuriating idiot_ of this fact. Right now actually.

“Right” Belle shouted emphatically, spinning on her heel and storming out of the flat.

LeFou looked at Plumette accusingly “You don’t give a damn that you’ve just sent Adam to the wolves do you? Belle may be a romantic but even she’s not _that_ romantic. She’ll have him for that”

“LeFou darling, that’s precisely the point”

LeFou promptly choked on his coffee while Plumette quickly unlocked her phone and elegantly texted Lumiere that he might want to leave the country earlier than planned.

****

Adam had thought that Lumiere’s exit had been a tad hasty. They’d been running lines for the Drama’s department production of _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ in which Lumiere was playing Puck (Maestro Cadenza wasn’t one to fuck around with casting), when all of a sudden Adam’s oldest friend’s phone had chirped. Lumiere had unlocked the device, smiling away (so in all probability it was Plumette on the other end) paled considerably and bolted like a bat out of hell. Naturally concerned by his flatmate’s change in countenance, Adam had shouted after Lumiere’s retreating back but all he’d been told was that Lumiere had left something he desperately needed for rehearsal at the girls flat and he needed the car.

Then, about twenty minutes later, Belle had practically broken the door down. Lumiere always was a shitty liar.

Hearing the key in the lock, Adam had of course assumed that it was Lumiere, back from his urgent errand, wandering into the corridor he’d leaned in the hallway, ready to greet the other man. Then the door had slammed against the wall and Belle had been revealed, framed in the doorway like an avenging angel.

Fuck.

“ADAM”

The man in question smiled weakly at his girlfriend and started considering alternative exits.

“My darling?”

Whatever the hell he’d done wrong, the twenty minute metro ride had clearly done nothing to abate Belle’s displeasure. Not a good sign. With a tsk that would have made Mrs. Potts proud, Belle marched straight up to him, dropping her backpack, grabbed the lapels of Adam’s shirt so that they were eye-to-eye and began kissing the life out of him.

Fuck…. _yes._

Once Adam’s brain takes mercy and gets with the change of pace, he gathers Belle closer, to take control of the kiss. At first, he hesitantly cups her chin with one hand, the other finally coming to rest gently on her forearm. It seems however that unlike their previous…encounters, Belle is in no mood for tender caresses. At his careful handling she growls in the back of her throat and tugs him impossibly closer, hands snaking from his collar to the back of his neck. Belle murmurs his name in a desperate whine and the control Adam was desperately clinging to breaks beneath her fervour.

Without breaking the kiss, Adam bends to cup the back of Belle’s thighs and scoop her into his arms, then begins blindly walking backwards until her back gently hits against the living room wall. Belle hums with pleasure, stroking her fingers through his hair so that her nails lightly scrape his scalp. They stay like that for a few minutes, only changing position minutely when Belle wraps her legs securely around Adam’s waist.

Normally the rational part of Adam’s brain would take a backseat to his sensory one in an instance like this, but this is Belle in his arms. Belle inspires his protective, caring instinct to a degree he’d never thought someone who championed the Romantic genre with such fervour would be capable of. And he’d been pretty sure she’d come over here to yell at him anyway.

“Belle, mmph” he pulls away, but not too far; simply resting his forehead against hers.

Belle sighs and leans away from him instead, resting her head against the wall and looking up to the ceiling, as if in her own personal appeal to heaven. “Do you want to have sex with me?”

Adam’s mouth falls open, completely taken aback. He’d always believed that there were no such things as stupid questions but it appears he’d finally found one. Gently, he lowers her to the floor so that they’re both standing against the wall. It appears they’re going to be having a serious conversation after all. Idly, he wonders how Lumiere disappearing like the morning mist correlates to his sex life. And there’s a sentence he never thought he’d say.

“Of course I do, it’s just-“

“You want our first time to be in Paris, I know. I just like to know why you want it ‘to be perfect’?”

Adam’s mouth falls open once more.

“Did it ever occur to you,” Belle continues, evidently on a roll “that a) first times are never perfect because you don’t know what the other person likes and it’s a learning curve for both parties and b) there’s no reason we can’t have sex _before_ the trip to Paris so that any awkwardness is out of the way, we learn each other’s likes and dislikes and apart from what was described to me _that’s_ what would make Paris perfect?” She pokes his chest with each point.

Well, shit. He really hadn’t thought of it like that. It also made a great deal more sense. Belle just might be his saving grace after all.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been propositioned so eloquently before”

Belle shrugs, a teasing smirk spreading across her face “It’s a gift”

Adam’s hands, which had fallen to Belle’s hips during their conversation, he was so loathsome to relinquish her touch wholly come up to touch her shoulders. “I’m sorry love. It appears in shooting for romance I’ve missed by a mile”

Belle shakes her head and presses a kiss to his shoulder “Love never misses its mark.” She closes her eyes for a moment, simply enjoying the soothing luxury of his fingers running along her braid and pulling it loose, to bury his fingers hands in her locks and massage her scalp. “I appreciate the effort, really Adam. But…if we’re going to keep doing _this_. We have to talk to each other”

Adam only nods and wonder how he ever found someone as willing to put up with his shit as she is.

“So….we can have sex now?”

“That is why I came over here” she giggles when Adam’s eyebrows shoot up, evidently recalling the way she’d blow in here like a tornado. “But, can we have in my place?” When Adam’s eyebrow’s squiggle in confusion over the request to change location Belle laughs, pressing a kiss to the nearest patch of skin she can reach – his neck.

“Payback” she murmurs by way of explanation and causes Adam to laugh at that, full throated, unexpected joy stealing all his body in the use of its expression. He pulls out his car keys and wiggles them before her.

“Lead the way, dear heart”

****

“My dearest Belle. For that is what you always have been and you always will be.”

“Stop quoting Austen so dirtily.”

“Make me.”

Belle groaned against Adam’s bare collarbone, nipping hard enough that he didn’t doubt there would be a bruise tomorrow.

“Fuck me,” she moaned again, “you’re annoying” her hands roamed his pectorals, nails scratching enough to irritate by way of retaliation. This was somewhat softened by the way her thighs gripped at his waist beneath the sheets. Adam wishes he could lay her out on his Egyptian cotton sheets but thinks of the next time and resolves to worship her now for the Queen she is. His lips trail along her shoulders, her collarbone, up her throat to press at her jaw until blindly he claims her own lips, hoping the passion of this kiss expresses everything he cannot vocalise.

“But you love it” he observes, even though it’s him that loves.

Belle pulled back, eying him quizzically “I said fuck me _you_ annoying Austenite”

Adam’s mouth fell open in a little ‘oh’ of understanding before his grin returned full force against Belle’s lips. “You really need to work on your pronunciation _my dearest”_

“I’ll pronounce you _dead_ in a minute if you don’t – _Ahhhhhhaha”_

*****

The next thing Belle feels is Adam’s kiss on her shoulder-blade. “C’mon or else we’ll be late for class”

For a moment, she thinks he’s speaking from her dream; their Parisian bed (she’ll have to tell Real Adam she wants to share a room) roses and Romeo’s verses. Hey, he’d said it would be perfect.

Then the day before comes back to her and Belle stretches like a cat, enjoying the luscious ache of her muscles. Ugh, she cannot be bothered with class today, lounging with beignets and coffee sounds so much more appealing. Shakespeare on the brain, the Bard answers for her “Wilt thou be gone? It’s not yet near day. Twas the nightingale and not the lark that pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear. Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate tree. Believe me love, it was the nightingale”

Pulling on his t-shirt, Adam rolls his eyes where Belle can’t see (she wouldn’t care, she’s too busy mourning the loss of his back muscles for her perusal) but after a minute spent on it he dredges Romeo’s lines up.

“It was the lark, the herald of the morn, no nightingale, “Adam half kneels on the bed, stifling a laugh as Belle groans in protest when he turns her shoulders so that she can look out the window “Look, love, what envious streaks do lace the severing clouds in yonder East. Night’s candles are burnt out and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops”

When he utters the words ‘misty mountains’ Adam’s brain makes the leap to the dwarfs’ song from _The Hobbit_ but he refrains.

“S’a meteor” Belle mumbles around the skin of his forearm, where she’s laying generous kisses. Laughing, Adam decides that desperate times call for desperate measures. If they don’t attend this class, Cogsworth will be merciless and fail them on principal, soft spot or no.  Scooping his paramour into his arms, blankets and all, Adam talks loudly over her squawking “If we shower together will you come?”

“I expect so” their eyes catch and Belle winks.

Taken aback (something he seems to be making a habit from of late) Adam gives a shout of laughter and throws Belle over his shoulder “Belle de Barbarac! Y’know people think you’re some sweet innocent country girl and they are _so wrong”_

****

Of course not everything is all roses.

They have their fights, the classroom bickering that had originally brought them into each other’s orbit remains with them. LeFou tells them all during their weekly Monday night beer at the pub that he’d overheard Cogsworth complaining to Ms. Life, the biology professor that he’d thought that since his two most rambunctious students were now in a relationship, the tension would have dissipated. Adam and Belle silently agreed to disagree more for a week in retaliation.

Their first actual fight, with raised voices and slamming doors happens the week before they break up for Spring and the long awaited trip to Paris.   It’s not the first time Adam has feared that perhaps their relationship is foredoomed to failure. But it is the first time he’s scared Belle might believe that too.

They’d been sitting on the sofa in the living room drowning in the cushions both girls had bought to brighten up the living quarters with the others chatting idly about Paris. Adam had one arm stretched towards Belle, so that their fingers could tangle loosely. It was only when Stanley had asked if Adam was definitely happy to foot the bill that things had gotten awkward. Apparently he’d forgotten to tell Belle that he intended to use his family wealth to pay for not just the flights, but the meals as well as the outings, leaving the others free to spend their money on souvenirs. And if they were caught short there he’d be happy to spot them.

Merde.

Belle waits until they’re alone, getting ready for dinner before she sets her teeth into him.

“What am I to you?”

She’s pulling her dress out of the wardrobe, not looking at him. Her tone is dark, which is unusual for Belle, normally a sunny, optimistic tone in her throat. Not now. If Belle was a threatening sort of girl, he’d be worried.  It’s not until she tosses his at him, from Adam’s own drawer that she cleared for him, with a tad too much force that he knows he’s mis-stepped.

“I don’t understand what you mean?”

That’s when she rounds on him. Normally Belle is the epitome of patience, but whatever he’s done must have really riled her if the way she scowls and the words rush out is anything to go by.

“I mean, am I just some trophy for you to parade round?” Belle snaps. Belle snaps very calmly, in a low voice meaning she’s trying to reign in her temper. “I don’t want you to pay for my flights or anything. In Paris. The fact that you’re accommodating us is generosity enough”

“Belle – if I have the means for you to enjoy our holiday to the fullest extent without worrying about a budget why shouldn’t I spend it on you? If you see something while we’re there I want you to have it.” He could wend his way round the bed to get to her but that’s not direct enough and instinct tells him to be direct now. Instead, Adam chooses to kneel on the bed and scuffle across the bed clothes to get in front of her.

“Because my equal is here, and my likeness” at this point, speaking softly he’d hoped to take her hands in his and soften her to his way of thinking but Belle takes a step back. It’s then that he remembers that Belle is as stubborn as he is, will champion her point till death unless you can logically provide your reasoning. Clearly, they’re not done with this topic yet.

“I suppose you want to lock me away in the attic too when we get back?”

Adam gets up from the bed so that he’s truly in front of her now, literally standing his ground. “I cannot _believe_ you have the whole world of comparison to choose from and you elect to compare me to _Rochester_ ” he retorts crisply.

Belle folds her arms and announces that it’s difficult not to when Adam insists on quoting him. How is it that someone as intriguing as Belle could be so _damned infuriating_.

“Bronte gave him an eloquence of expression which I find exceptionally useful when I’m trying to express how much I love you”

Belle clucked her tongue and rolled her eyes. If anyone wanted a textbook definition of exasperation, he’d show them this moment “He’s the most presuming prick ever to grace the pages of literature”

“So I’m a presuming prick then”

“From where I’m standing” she fires back, a scowl appearing inbetween her eyebrows, voice devoid of all its characteristic warmth.

Adam bit his lip to keep his anger inside and forced himself to breathe out through his nose. He would not shout at Belle. He would keep his temper. He wasn’t going to budge on this point. The whole point of the trip to Paris was for Belle, himself and their friends to enjoy themselves, hence the reason he had had a significant portion of money from one of the trust funds his mother had left him wired to his private account. Private from his father that is.

“Don’t come then” he retorts coolly.

You know those moments where you think it’s okay to say something and then the minute you say it you realise how big a mistake that just was? This is one of those moments.

Adam manages to hold in his wince until the door to the ensuite slams shut. He’s not really sure how they’re supposed to salvage the evening after this but its Date Night the week before Paris (from which he has just suggested in a poor attempt to highlight the silliness of Belle’s soapbox, that the Guest of Honour herself not attend) so he has to try.

Taking a turn around the room (okay two) he loosens his tie and slips up to the door, knocking as lightly as possible. He may think Belle is being unreasonable about the whole thing but even he, with his limited relationship experience, knows that a closed door is a fucking bad sign. And dear God, he can’t help where he’s from. Please don’t let them break up over money. “Belle. Please. Will you come down to dinner?” After a moment, he remembers his manners and adds “Please”

“I’m not hungry anymore” _Oh Merde._ Belle’s as big a foodie as he is, so that’s a load of crap.

“Sweetheart, please. We’ll talk more about…all that, tomorrow. But right now it would give me the greatest pleasure if you would join me for dinner. Please”

“No.” It could be the thickness of the door but it sounded like those last words came out through her teeth. Amid copious amounts of swearing over the lack of finesse he’s apparently displayed during this discourse, Adam’s brain continues to attempt grace. He must be a gentleman, even if the love of his life is being difficult.

Fuck it “This is stupid Belle. Come out please. Or I’ll be forced to break the door down” there’s a trace of silkiness in his voice, the growl an undercurrent ripping through and betraying his irritation.

“You wouldn’t dare.” Comes the reply. Damn her for being right. He won’t. It’s mahogany.

“You can’t stay in there forever” he tries again bluntly

“Yes I can!”

A reply somewhere along the lines of how she just go ahead and fucking starve creeps into his consciousness but he swallows it back. Belle responds to reason and he sure as shit isn’t going to lose his temper over something as banal as money.

“Belle. I’m paying for everyone on this trip because…because _yes_ you can do Paris on a budget, nearly everyone does but what I’m saying is we don’t have to. I want all of us to have the best trip possible. Otherwise that money will just sit in the bank and I’d rather spent it on my loved ones. And the others have agreed. It’s the meals and travel only I swear. It’s just a safety net in case there’s something you fall in love with then you can have it. I’m pretty sure Lumiere’s going to hog my debit card anyway so we probably wouldn’t even get the chance to use it”

There’s a small titter from the other side of the door. Success.

Then quietly, so quietly Adam’s pretty sure he only hears it because his ear’s fucking jammed against the door “What if we break up?”

Jesus Christ Almighty.

“Belle seriously open the door please” There’s the scrambling of the lock turning and swinging wide. Belle is revealed, looking even smaller than normal; shoulders hunched and a tad blotchy round the eyes.

He immediately wants to hug her but he’s not sure if that’s allowed mid fight.

“If…” holy Lord, he doesn’t even want to say the words “If we ever _were_ to break up” he trips over the words quickly in his rush to skip over them because he’s pretty damn sure if that ever does happen it’ll be Belle that ends it “Anything that was purchased as a gift, would remain a gift and you would be able to keep it guilt free”

Belle takes an ever so slightly shaky breathe out “Okay then”

“So we can go to dinner now?”

Belle nods and Adam thanks whatever lucky stars he was born under that his extravagance is acceptable to her on these terms.

It’s only later when they’re walking down the street to the little French restaurant and Belle’s fingers slyly slip into his that Adam feels himself breathe properly again.

Whatever this is they’re doing, he’s in deep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually had a biology teacher called Ms. Life in Middle school. Go figure :)

**Author's Note:**

> If a Disney character references the literary work from which another unrelated Disney character was based, is that breaking the fourth wall?


End file.
